Corset-clasp.



M. B. GARDNER.

CORSET CLASP.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 1, 1909. RENEWED N33. 20, 1911.

1,003,100. Patented Sept. 12,1911.

2 SHEETS-$1133! 1.

\\ E Z i l 1 f K k W EOLUMBIX PLANOGRAPH CO.,WASHINGTON. D. C.

M. B. GARDNER.

CORSET CLASP.

APPLICATION EILEE 11 111111, 1909. RENEWED FEB. 20, 1011.

1,003,100. Patented Sept. 12,1911.

' 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

COLUMBIA PLANDORAPH CO" WASHINGTON. D. C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MARSHALL B. GARDNER, OF AURORA, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR 'IO INTERNATIONAL CORSET COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

CORSET-CLASP.

Application filed June 1, 1909, Serial No. 499,311.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MARSHALL B. GARD- NER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Aurora, in the county of Kane and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Corset- Clasps; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in corset clasps or closures for fastening together the two halves of a corset at the front thereof without the employment of the usual metallic studs, thereby producing a flat fitting efiect and avoiding the objectionable projections at the front of the corset due to the presence of such studs.

To this end a corset constructed in accordance with my invention is provided at the front margin of one side of the body with a plurality of hooks or like fastening devices which are designed to hook over or directly engage the stiffening stay fixed in the front margin of the other side of the body. The said hooks are made flat and extend transversely across and lie flat on the said stay with their hooked ends in engagement with the underside of the stay. The hooks themselves are secured to a similar stay in the margin of the other half of the corset.

The invention consists in the matters hereinafter set forth and more particularly point-- ed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings :Figure 1 is a view in front elevation, partially broken away, of a portion of the front of a corset provided with my novel clasp. Fig. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view of the hook engaged stay piece pocket and a part of the corset body to which it is attached. Fig. v3 is a similar view of the hook bearing stay piece pocket. Fig. 4 is a transverse section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a similar section on line 55 of Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is a perspective view of one of the hooks and the stay to which it is attached, showing the manner of fastening the hook on said stay. Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the hook. Fig. 8 is a fragmentary perspective view of the blank from which is formed the hookengaged stay pocket. Fig. 9 is a view in front elevation, partially broken away, of a Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 12, 1911. Renewed February 20, 1911. Serial No. 609,789.

portion of the front of the corset provided with a modification of the hook-engaged stay piece pocket. Fig. 10 is a perspectlve view of said modified hookengaged stay piece pocket and the part of the corset body to which it is attached. Fig. 11 is a similar view of the hook bearing stay piece pocket. Fig. 12 is a transverse section of Fig. 9, on the line 12 12 thereof. Fig. 13 is a similar section on the line 13-13 thereof. Fig. 14 is a fragmentary perspective view of the blank from which is produced the said modified form of hook-engaged stay pocket.

As shown in the drawings, 10, 11 indicate the two sides or halves of the corset.

12, 13 indicate stays or steels attached to the parallel front margins of the corset body and 14, 15 pockets in which said stays are contained.

The front margin of one half of the corset body overlaps a flap extension 16 of the pocket 14 and is secured thereto by lines of stitching 17 and 18. The front margin of the other half of the corset body likewise overlaps a flap extension 19 of the pocket 15 and is secured thereto by lines of stitching 21,22.

24, 24 designate hooks which are attached to the stay or steel 12 and are adapted to engage the stay or steel 13. The said hooks are made of flat sheet metal and comprise a shank member 25 and hook member 26. The said shank member lies flatwise across the stay 12 and is attached thereto, while the hook member extends laterally beyond said stay for engagement with the stay 18.

To attach the hooks to the stay 12, the shank is provided at its end with an extension 27 which is folded about the one edge of the stay, while a prong 28, cut from the body of the shank, is folded about the opposite edge, both being brought to bear against the rear face of the stay (Fig. 7). This fastening means is preferable as it avoids the use of rivets and the piercing of the stays and hooks, and at the same time affords a rigid and durable attachment of the hooks to the stay.

The pocket 14 for the hook-bearing stay 12 embraces an inner lining strip 30 of strong durable fabric, and front and rear facing or covering strips 31, 32 which over lie said lining strip. The lining strip is transversely folded along its medial line about said stay,"andthe free margins of said strip are extended beyond the stay as are also the facing strips 31, 32 to form the extension 16 of the pocket 14 and, are there fastened together by the lines of stitching 17 and l8by means of which the pocket is secured to the corset body. The opposite margins of the facing'strips 31, 32 are folded back upon themselves so that the folds lie between the facing strips and the lining strip 30, as best shown in Fig. 5, and are stitched together along the lines of the folds as indicated at 31 This stitching is disconnected at intervals to form openings or slits 32 through which the shanks of the hooks 24 extend.

The pocket 15 for the hook-engaged stay 13 is preferably formed from two pieces or strips 35, 36 attached together along the line of stitching 37 (see Fig. 8). In the strip are cut rectangular openings 38, and the flaps 39 formed in making the rectangular openings are folded back upon the strip 35.

Said openings 38 are made slightly longer than the width of the stay 13 and of a width slightly greater than that of the hook 24. To form the pocket the strip 35 is folded along the stitching line 37 over on itself, above the stay 13 (indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 8) with the flaps 39 against the face thereof. The strip 35 thus completely in- 'closes the stay-13,-except at the openings 38,

with its edges projecting beyond said stay for attachment together to form a flap extension for the attachment of the pocket to the corset body. The strip 36 is also folded along the line of stitching 37 upon itself so as to lie below the stay 13. This fold thus forms a facing strip as does the outer fold of the strip. 35. The underfold of the strip 35 forms a wear strip lying below the openings 38 to receive the direct wear of the hooks34 and thus save the facing strip 36 which, together with its fold 36, underlies said wear strip. As a result of this construction of the pocket 15, sections of the stays 13 are exposed opposite each hook 24 for the engagement of the hook member thereof, so that the end of said hook may engage against the lower side of the stay 13. The corset body is attached to the flap extension 19 of the pocket 15 by means of the two lines of stitching 21,22.

While I haveillustrated this way of making the pockets for the stay 13, it may be modified in various ways as, for example, by 9 to 14, inclusive. In this case the pocket is means of the construction illustrated in Figs. 9 to 14, inclusive. In this case the pocket is formed with the strip which immediately incloses the stay 13 made of a num ber of short strips or sections 45 provided at their ends with flaps 49 which are folded down upon them with spaces between to form the openings 38, as seen in Fig. 14.

Said strips are preferably secured together at one side by means of a narrow strip 50 which lies above the flaps 49, the same being securedin place by a line of stitching 51. At the opposite sides of the strips 45 along their medial lines is secured a facing strip 52 which is secured to said strips by a line of stitching 53 and then folded back on itself to inclose between it and the strips 45 a wear strip 54. Said facing strip 52 is also preferably folded back on itself along its inner edge to form a fold 55 which, with the wear strip and strips 45, are secured together along the line of stitching 56. The whole is'then folded about the stay as before, with the stay in the posit-ion indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 14, the margins beyond the stay forming a flap extension by means of which the pocket is secured to the corset body by lines of stitching 21, 22, as illustrated in Figs. 12 and 13.

In practice the stays 12 and 13 will be protected by a closely fitting envelop or cover to prevent oxidation thereof and consequent discoloration of'the pockets. The hooks may likewise be so protected or covered.

It is apparent that various other modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention and I do not wish to be limited by any of the details illustrated and described herein except as pointed out in the claims.

I claim as my invention 1. Means for clasping a corset comprising, in combination with the corset body, marginal pockets arranged on each side of the corset body opening, stays in said pockets, and hooks attached to one of the stays and adapted for direct engagement with the other stay, the pocket of the latter stay being cut transversely of the stay and portions of the outer wall of said pocket removed to provide longitudinally spaced openings to expose the front and engaged edge of said stay for direct engagement with said books.

2. Means for clasping a corset comprising, in combination with the corset body, marginal pockets arranged along the adjacent edges of the corset body opening, stays in said pockets, and hooks attached to one of the stays, extending transversely across and adapted for direct engagement with the other stay, the front wall of the pocket of the latter stay being transversely cut and portions thereof removed to provide longitudinally spaced openings to expose the front and engaged edge of said stay for direct engagement with said hooks, said 0 aenings extending beyond the engaged e ge of the hook engaged stay.

3. Means for clasping a corset comprising, in combination with the corset body, marginal pockets arranged at each side of the opening of the corset body, stays in said pockets, hooks attached to one of the stays and adapted to extend across and directly engage the other stay, the pocket for the latter stay being cut away at points opposite the hooks to permit said hooks to directly engage said stay, and an auxiliary strip arranged in said pocket below said stay to receive the wear of said hooks.

i. A corset body provided at its margin with a stay pocket, a stay in said pocket, the said stay pocket comprising a fabric strip which is folded transversely about the stay with its free margins constituting a flap extension and attached together closely adjacent one side margin of the stay, the said strip being transversely cut at longitudinally spaced points of the pocket to provide transverse hook receiving openings which are continned into said flap extension, a wear strip at the rear of the stay and extending across said openings, and a facing strip at the rear of said wear strip.

5. Means for clasping a corset comprising, in combination with the corset body, marginal pockets arranged along the edges of the corset opening, stays in said pockets, hooks attached to one of the stays extending across and adapted for direct engagement with the other stay, the pocket of the latter stay comprising a strip folded about the stay, the upper fold of said strip being provided within transverse openings to expose the stay for engagement with said hooks and the lower fold forming a wear strip, and a second strip secured to said first named strip along its fold line, the two strips extending laterally beyond the stay and being secured together along the edge thereof and being projected beyond the same to form an extension flap for attaclnnent to the body.

6. A corset body provided at its margin with a stay pocket, a stay in said pocket, the said stay pocket comprising a fabric strip which is folded transversely about the stay with its free margins constituting a flap extension for attachment to the body and stitched together closely adjacent one side margin of the stay, the said strip being transversely cut at longitudinally spaced points of the pocket to provide transverse hook-receiving openings which are continued into said extension, and having a wear strip located at the rear of the stay back of said openings.

7 Means for clasping a corset comprising, in combination with the corset body, marginal pockets arranged on each side of the corset body opening, stays in said pockets, and hooks attached to one of the stays within its pocket, said hooks projecting through openings formed in the edge of the pocket and adapted for direct engagement with the other stay, the pocket of the latter stay being transversely cut away to provide longitudinally spaced openings to permit the dlrect engagement of said hooks with said stay.

In testimony, that I claim the foregoing as my invention I afiix my signature in the presence of two witnesses, this 26th day of May A. D. 1909.

MARSHALL B. GARDNER.

Witnesses:

J. IvoR MONTGOMERY, ANNA M. BRITZ.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

